Mr. John O'Connell:

That is a very good question. They could simply pause the redundancies for a period of time. In the main the people taking redundancy are very experienced officials who have a lot to contribute. It puzzles us why somebody does not identify this as a leaking bucket, putting people in on one side while leaving people go on the other side. When will we get to a situation where they have adequate staffing levels? There was a call to the regulator to get the bank staffing complement to where it should be. That will get us to business as usual. We can then judge that to establish how many additional staff are required.

I gave Tullamore as the example of the future banking and its 30% deficit on the day the seminar was held. That can be replicated across every branch in the country. We did a survey on International Women's Day and the overwhelming response was a cry for help to get additional people to support those already in jobs. That was before there was any publicity about anybody leaving any place. This has been an ongoing issue. It did not happen overnight. However, when resources are drained to that level, it takes some effort to get it back up to a sustainable level of staff. If the deputy were to go to work in one of these banks, what would he do? He would contact a colleague who works there to ask what it is like there. If it is not a positive description, he may decide not to take that up. It is important to get the staffing right from the point of view of both the staff and the consumers.